05-01-2001, 02:16 AM
Hi all!<br>
<br>
Okay, I'm home watching "Starship Troopers" one evening, and I'm at the part where our hero is being triced-up and bullwhipped and I'm wondering, as I so often do, "How, exactly, did the Roman army do this?" You hear much about the bad old centurio with his vine staff and you see the TV reenactments of the punishment being inflicted upon the legionary while still in his armor. There are not many detailed descriptions of it because, most probably, it simply wasn't a big deal, except with "Ol' Gimme 'Nuther." I wonder if the Roman floggings were solomn, orderly exercises with the units drawn-up into ranks, the offence being read aloud and the punishment being inflicted, or if it was more of an on-the-spot thrashing about the head and shoulders. If the latter be true, what would stop the unfortunate fellow on the buisiness end of the vitis from getting-up and simply running away from said thrashing, with the centurio in hot persuit? Not a terribly important question in the face of the development of Roman military tactics and so forth, but it does help paint a picture. <p>...or not.</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=thecaesariansection>The Caesarian Section</A> at: 5/1/01 4:23:35 am<br></i>
<br>
Okay, I'm home watching "Starship Troopers" one evening, and I'm at the part where our hero is being triced-up and bullwhipped and I'm wondering, as I so often do, "How, exactly, did the Roman army do this?" You hear much about the bad old centurio with his vine staff and you see the TV reenactments of the punishment being inflicted upon the legionary while still in his armor. There are not many detailed descriptions of it because, most probably, it simply wasn't a big deal, except with "Ol' Gimme 'Nuther." I wonder if the Roman floggings were solomn, orderly exercises with the units drawn-up into ranks, the offence being read aloud and the punishment being inflicted, or if it was more of an on-the-spot thrashing about the head and shoulders. If the latter be true, what would stop the unfortunate fellow on the buisiness end of the vitis from getting-up and simply running away from said thrashing, with the centurio in hot persuit? Not a terribly important question in the face of the development of Roman military tactics and so forth, but it does help paint a picture. <p>...or not.</p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=thecaesariansection>The Caesarian Section</A> at: 5/1/01 4:23:35 am<br></i>